1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems which monitor both airway carbon dioxide concentration and respiratory flow. Specifically, the present invention relates to systems which monitor respiratory air flow, pressure and carbon dioxide levels, process those measurements to derive information about various respiratory-related functions and blood carbon dioxide levels, and display the measured and derived information.
2. State of the Art
Respiratory monitors are known in the art. Typically, respiratory monitors measure respiratory air flow rates at discrete sampling intervals. Many respiratory monitoring apparatus process respiratory samples to determine characteristics such as respiratory rate and depth of respiration. U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,036, issued to Harald Kronberg and Helmut Leist on Dec. 28, 1993 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,456, issued to Josef Stupecky on Feb. 5, 1991, disclose exemplary devices.
However, many respiratory monitors in the prior art sample only a limited aspect of a patient's respiration and display a limited number of directly measured respiratory characteristics rather than an overall profile of a patient's respiration. Moreover, many existing respiratory monitors do not allow a user to select the displayed respiratory profiles.
A system is needed which monitors a variety of respiratory profile parameters and displays data regarding those parameters. There is also a need for a system which, following measurement of some respiratory parameters, automatically generates data regarding other respiratory profile parameters.